Monthly Archives: December 2016

I wanted to start just posting valuable information and other peoples videos or links to project blogs. So instead of tying them to long and slightly thought out blog writings I decided to just bunch a few interesting articles and posts up each month and post them all together as my Live Video Artists Info Blast. So without Further delay.

DJI Mavic Pro – (will it ever come out?)

DJI Mavic Pro

I pre ordered one of these new camera drones from DJI and am very excited to get it. It was supposed to come to our Toronto Vistek Store in late October but now we are looking at Dec 24th lol and so more likely 2017 whenever they finish digesting their turkey dinners . Once i get it I will surely make a video review that I have been planning to be the first of my video product reviews. I will be a very useful tool for me and I will share some of my uses for Drones as a VJ when I get the thing and can do some demonstrations. The Drone is fast , shoots at 4k stabilized. It has range of like 5 miles and has smart obstacle avoidance sensors all over it. Freaking cool stuff. It kills me that I am still watching reviews for this thing when I should have it in my hands . Here is a link to a decent full review by another user and Youtuber.

Since this blog is more for my own future reference than anyone else here is some safety and rules info for drone use. The Macic Pro is small but it can go high fast and far so I’ll have to be careful.DRONE SAFTY INFORMSTION LINK :http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/drone-safety.html

3D Animation for live visuals and projection mapping
I’ve been doing some 3D rendering for my visuals , my portfolio for studio work and for projection mapping effects. I use Maya since I have learned it in school and now I am using the Arnold ray trace rendering engine because it is now included in Autodesk Maya. This is an interesting video that teaches us some science behind the amazing developments in computer rendering in recent years. Maya with the live preview of Arnold rendering really changes the game for my creation process and speeds up my path toward a great result.

See one of my renderings here that I made in Maya and Arnold for a ultra wide projection installation. There was a tight timeline on getting this done and on the wall so I was not able to render all the effects I had planned . Fog and some depth of field would be nice . I also have a winter bird animation I wanted to add.

Augmented Reality and an almost magical Leap
finally I don’t want to let this discussion pass by without making a point on it . I have been interested in Virtual Reality technology for many years and now recently VR is becoming more accessible with new consumer headsets and smart phone devices powerful enough to operate the programs required. There are also 360 cameras now that let you film all around you and view in VR.
This is all very exciting and I cant wait to play some core games in full VR but I think VR will always be a novelty and a toy . It’s the revolution of AR “Augmented reality” that is really going to change things . AR devices and programming will be useful as entertainment , communications and every day tools like our smart phones but even better. There is a start up company called Magic Leap that promises to take this AR experience to a new level with the latest augmented vision display technology. I have seen people posting MEME videos online calling this a “magic” new technology and that it will be just like holograms and images appearing in mid air. But that is not true , of course there has to be some kind of display that we see the graphics on and for AR the display must be clear. If the display is to show 3D graphics that move in place over the real world then it will need to use a mix of eye tracking and motion sensors . All this technology is currently available and has been implemented in research projects but the race is on for a company to crack the nut and create the first fully immersive AR glasses that combine all the needed features to deliver the full AR experience as it has been imagined by designers and scientists the world over. If Magic Leap can deliver that by developing some new tech that allows it to all fit into one tiny package then they can certainly have my money. I just hope there will be an open dev kit.
Check out these great videos discussing the possibilities of the next gen AR glasses.

EDIT : Make sure to watch part 2 of that concepts video if you liked the first and maybe check out this article on Technologyreview.com about the challenges of manufacturing such new technology that may be leading people to doubt that this company can deliver the Magic they promised.https://www.technologyreview.com/s/538146/magic-leap-needs-to-engineer-a-miracle/If they have abandoned this photonics display chip then I think it will eventually fall on another company to be able to produce them some day . I am still looking forward to this idealized AR experience in the near future. For now we have Microsoft holo lens and I hope to at least try if not buy that as a solid first gen AR device.

Next post will cover more details form Legends of Horror Production and Ill get one up before Xmas featuring the Christmas work we did at the Casa and a Christmas loop pack of festive winter animations I made this year.

Happy holidays 2017 here we come . hers to many more VJ adventures 🙂

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Welcome back to the Live Video Art blog. Visit weekly for Vj related articles, videos, project reports, education and event listings featuring Scott Vj Guy and his friends and colleagues in the world of creative Live Video Art productions. We aim to share and comment on some of the most interesting visuals related content found around the web as well as do regular updates on my projects and events listings. You will also find some how-to videos and event recaps popping up over time. Featured Instagram and Twitter Hashtags #vjguy #livevideoart #sgp360